Suncere Ali Shakur

Staff reports

Community member and activist Suncere Ali Shakur has established a nonprofit organization to provide free breakfast for children at Pisgah View Apartments in West Asheville.

The nonprofit, called Sankofa Children’s Free Breakfast, is working with several local restaurants for cooking equipment and supplies. Mr. Shakur does all the cooking himself, and he is hoping to expand the program to include free breakfast for children at all public housing in Asheville. Numerous studies have demonstrated that better nutrition improves learning outcomes.

Mr. Shakur has been involved before in community development and disaster relief. After Hurricane Katrina, he spent two years in New Orleans, where he co-founded Common Ground Relief (www.commongroundrelief.org), a post-Katrina disaster relief program. At present he is working with Mutual Aid Disaster Relief, a service branch of Common Ground. As logistical coordinator, Shakur is coordinating efforts stateside for the Haiti Disaster Relief.

The organization needs volunteer doctors and nurses as well as medical supplies for problems such as dehydration and of parasitic worm infections.

For more information, contact Mr. Shakur at (828) 776-0062.

Suncere Ali Shakur, coordinator of the Free Breakfast Project and outreach worker with “Common Ground,” a disaster relief program to aid victims of catastrophic disasters.  Photo: Urban News